Missing review – absurd tech thriller offers some enjoyably empty cinematic calories

In making a spiritual sequel to 2018’s Searching, the central franchise continuation remit of “‘keep what worked, but do it bigger” makes for an undeniably hard task. That film, about a father using every online tool at his disposal to find his estranged and missing daughter, told its family-focused story exclusively through the screens of phones, laptops, and other recording devices, as does the new entry into this quasi-franchise, Missing. In having to expand the scope while keeping to the rules, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, but entertaining enough to see it through its shakier moments.

In this case, the roles of the story are reversed, as a surly 18 year old daughter, June (Storm Reid) goes in search of her mother Grace (Nia Long) when she fails to return from a Colombian holiday with her also-missing new boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung). Though the police do get involved, we mostly see June’s independent sleuthing as she tracks CCTV streams of popular tourist destinations and hires a local on Taskrabbit to ask around at nearby shops and hotels.

It’s a story that takes a while to get going (at almost two hours, Missing is noticeably too long), but there are thrills to reward your patience, the plot packed with enough twists to fill a 10-part Netflix series (that streamer’s own true-crime obsession gets some light-hearted but effective ribbing here). The script, from writer-director duo Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick (who served as editors on Searching) is hardly an elegant thing, but it does manage to keep finding new, slightly cheat-y, ways to stick to the central gimmick without hamstringing itself.

It does all get too ridiculous come the final act, moving into territory that the film doesn’t really have the chops to handle satisfyingly, but the middle act – kicked off by a superbly silly and properly rug-pulling twist – is tense and propulsive as the full extent of Grace’s troubles are revealed to June. Reid does solid work in what cannot be an easy film to anchor, always having to be reactive whilst simultaneously being restricted by the basic premise, which still feels inescapably gimmick-y.

When it’s not chucking fake-outs at you, Missing does have something real to say about the rise of the podcast/TikTok detective (the kind that the UK got a very nasty taste of recently, which may explain why this film saw its release suddenly delayed by two months). We see just how hurtful and useless the online speculation is and though it’s not a lesson that has much surprise or subtlety, it’s good to see a bit of pushback against an online culture that sees itself as helpful but is mostly just brain poison.

That said, this is hardly a state-of-the-nation address, and this thread is eventually, and unceremoniously, shunted to the backburner to make way for an overcooked and not-convincing-enough finale. It’s a mediocre ending that might just have enough shock value to distract from its own incoherence in the moment, but feels empty in hindsight. It means Missing isn’t a film you’re likely to return to, but the unfussily forgettable fun along the way makes it worth the initial trip.

Missing is released in UK cinemas on